My Testimony
by Jho
Summary: How I came to have faith in Jesus Christ.


My Testimony  
By: Jho

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Disclaimer: This testimony belongs to me. If you wish to use any part of my story on a publication please ask for my permission first.

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Author Notes: I promised one of my reviewers from a couple months ago that I would post my testimony for him but I sure waited for a long time. To that specific person I apologize. My testimony follows standard _before, after, now_ format. If anyone has more things they are curious about - feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability. I hope this testimony may be an encouragement to fellow Christians and to Seekers (not the club, but actually people who aren't Christians yet but are definitely curious) who are trying to find God. God bless you and may His grace be with you. 

_Italics – special emphasis_

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Almost 18 years old. I haven't been to church for over 13 years. I was comfortable with the life I was living. I would go to school and just chill with my friends playing basketball. When I came home I would just have a blast playing video games. Some school days I simply cut so I can play video games – I think my parents still don't know about that time. But one thing my parents knew was that I was in trouble. I was struggling a great deal in school and they could tell from my attitude that it was more than teen angst; something was different about me. They loved me dearly and they wanted to see me recover from whatever it was that seemed to be troubling me so they suggested to me that I should go to church. _Hah!_ I thought. Church, that's real funny. Especially since they didn't go to church since the last time I went. 

I think the first time I went, I was simply bored. I can't explain why else I would even bother to go. I mean it wasn't like I was interested. I honestly was never once interested about the Christians at my school who were part of Seekers. All of them seemed to be in their own world. Not once did any of them ever approach me with wanting to share about Jesus. But there was something in me that wanted to change. Right now I know that it was a stirring from God, but back then I just thought it was a simple whim that I pursued.

Anyways the very first time I went to Church, I was absolutely freaked out. Yo I'm almost a grown man, and I see all these people around my age and younger in a youth group closing their eyes and praying. That was _really_ strange. I don't know if Christians who have been part of the Church since they were really young understand how strange it is. The weirdness was a reason enough to stop going. But there was one thing that really moved my heart. The praise music – when it was worship time there was something about the atmosphere that stirred my heart. Never in my entire life have I ever felt my heart beat like that. Not even the first time I had a major crush on a girl (which happened to be one of the reasons I was in such a mess in the first place because it became an utter disaster) and nothing else I had ever experienced prepared me for those emotions I felt for the first time ever. Through praise I felt like there was something greater than myself; I think the first time I met with God was through praise.

I continued to go to church until high school ended (around 3-4 months). Once college started I thought for sure that I would stop going to church. But a funny coincidence (now I believe that there are no coincidences – I believe this happened through God's providence) was that a person from the Church I just started attending for a few months was going to become a senior at the college I was preparing to go to; there were no other people in that church going to my college. When I went to college he kept me accountable and gave me rides to church and made sure I came and attended fellowship meetings. Without God sending that brother in my life I highly doubt I would be a Christian today.

It was at a fall retreat that I accepted Jesus as my savior for the first time. The sermon now seems as vague as a dream, but I remember the most important parts – I'll share that story here. (Based on real story) In the 1950's there was a huge snowstorm in Korea that blocked off many roads. Most people were stuck at home. For some reason a mother was caught with her baby son out in that snowstorm. A woman who was driving by found the mother and son by the side of the road. When she came upon them the mother was dead but the baby son was alive. The mother died because she froze to death. But before she died she took off all her clothes and wrapped her baby in the hopes that he would live. The woman who found them happened to work at an orphanage so she took the baby boy back with her.

When the baby boy came of age he asked to come to his mom's gravesite. I have no idea if her actual body was there but he started walking to his mom's grave. As he walked up to it he stripped off all his clothes and placed it respectfully on top of his mom's grave. Tears streamed down his face as he looked heavenwards. And he started speaking, "Mom I can't imagine how much you loved me – that you would freeze to death and sacrifice your life so that I could live. Thank you so much."

A miracle happened then. For the first time in my life I understood how Jesus died for me. Before then it was all just nonsense. I heard how God died for me, but it didn't make sense at all. It went in one ear and out the other. But after I heard that story, God pierced my heart and I accepted Jesus as my Savior.

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After I accepted Jesus, the first year was really rocky. I still lived the same way as I did before I became a Christian. I accepted Jesus as my Savior, but it seemed like nothing changed about me. It was really eating me up inside, until one day I made a major commitment to God. I decided on that day I was going to live radically for Him. I was going to give up my addictions and use that time to get to know Him more. Up until that point I still didn't know how to read the Bible and how to pray. At that time I still didn't know who David, Moses, or anyone else besides Jesus was. Fortunately for me at that time at college my fellowship had morning prayer meetings. I dedicated my mornings to God and went every morning in order to learn how to read the Bible and pray from other Christians. 

I think those five to six months that I really gave my life to God was one of the happiest times of my life. It was a period in my life where I was on fire for God. Truly I felt that being a Christian was a real treasure that I couldn't believe I was so fortunate to find. Everything was good those days; no struggle could faze me in my relationship with God. That summer of my sophomore year in college I went on missions for the first time. I thought after I came back when I was on fire for God that I was ready to change the world. Little did I know of the struggles that lay ahead.

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My junior year was when I first stepped up to serving in my fellowship group. In hindsight I think being made vice-president when I was such a young Christian was a serious mistake. I was definitely full of pride without realizing it. And God definitely humbled me the following two years at college. But I really treasure that time a lot. Even though my last years at college was a roller-coaster ride full of ups and downs; I think that definitely prepared me a lot better for life after college. 

Now during my time at college I felt called to go on missions and possibly Seminary. But the same parents who encouraged me to go to Church when I was struggling was so against me doing anything church-related, I was really surprised. I graduated with an English degree but no immediate plans after that. I was thinking I would take some time off and possibly head into teaching or counseling. But to my surprise as my parents started going to Church for the first time in seventeen years, their hearts became more open to sending me to Seminary. And in that semester I had off I became a Sunday School Teacher at that Church I started to attend all those years ago and they also made me give the sermons to the 1st – 6th graders.

My parents agreed to send me to Seminary. I applied and got into Westminster in Pennsylvania. There was one thing that I felt God was speaking through both my dad and through my head pastor – _There's a right person, right place, right time._ And they both agreed that I needed to study more. So that's where I am currently, getting ready to go to Seminary. I'm pretty excited and nervous at the same time. Pretty crazy ride from non-Christian to Seminary, eh?


End file.
